Little Angel
by Depp1987
Summary: From ep 701. I always thought thtere was a change in Derek when he operates on Greg so this is what would've happened.
1. Chapter 1

"hey, its OK…" Derek held the sixteen year old's arm gently, stroking it with his thumb. Greg's mom looked terrified when he came in, and Meredith looked on, unsure of what to say.

"It's OK, its OK, you're OK…" Derek murmured into his ear. The bottom of his chin was scarred, and red from the stiches, and his nose was expanded from the retractor.

"It's OK I'm right here… Just stay strong for me OK… that's it there we go… Its alright, you're alright." Derek wanted to hold him and calm him down, but he knew this was going to make or break his recovery.

"What are you doing?" Meredith asked coming to the other side. she saw Derek's gentle stroking.

"He loves this. I did it in the OR too." Derek answered, continuing the soothing motion.

"It's OK, it's OK," Derek whispered, he didn't even notice Mark coming in.

"I got a page. Hey buddy, what's wrong."

"April has no idea what morphine is. Mer answered. Derek shot her a look.

"Check the stiches OK…" Derek nodded, Meredith leaned down and went into Greg's other ear.

"You wanna know the other thing Dr. Sloane's good at?" Mer said softly taking his hand. Greg shook his head.

"Making this look attractive…" she gently ran a gloved hand down his chin.

"Although I must say if you wanted to go out for Halloween as Freddy Krueger, you have the perfect costume." Derek grinned.

**%%&&&&*****$#$$$$$^&%%**

"There we go…" Derek whispered, he gently rubbed Greg's hair soothing him to sleep as the morphine kicked in.

"maybe it'll be nice if you don't get your car wrapped around a tree, so you can see him through this." Mer said sarcastically.

"Meredith please…" Derek started to say, but she walked out of the room.

"What did she mean?" asked Mark.

"Nothing… nothing." Derek just shook his head.

"Give him this dosage every 4 hours. I have my pager if he wakes up again."

"Thank you… Thank you so much." Donna said, her eyes starting to fill again. Derek put his arms around her, and held her gently.

"he'll be OK, I promise." Derek whispered.

"We wouldn't leave if we thought he wouldn't make it through the night." Mark said, Derek nodded.

"Rough day?" Donna asked.

"You have no idea…" Derek answered leaning on the wall.

"Here, this is my pager. CALL me if he has any bad side effects OK." Derek handed her a piece of paper.

"You don't have to…"

"YES, I do." Derek said tensely. She looked confused.

"I never had a dad either. I know what he's going through.." Derek said softly.

"I… you…"

"He's one in a million this guy, you're lucky. The previous surgeon didn't do half the job Derek did today." Mark said, he stole a glance at his friend.

"What happened to your father?" Donna asked timidly.

"He died, and I saw it happen." She nodded.

"I know what he needs, and its more than just Dr. Shepard the neuro surgeon." He tore a piece of fabric from his shirt, and gave it to her.

"If he gets scared tonight, give him this to hold." Derek whispered.

************^^^^^%%&*%%%%%%**

"How is it you tell everyone not to get attached?" Mer asked as they laid in bed.

"He's young, OK he's sixteen."

"You identify with him…" Mer asjed, her head on his chest.

"Yeah, he's so young, and he didn't ask for this." Derek glanced at his pager.

"You've been watching that for 3 hours."

"I know, I'm just worried it was a massive surgery."

"Then don't kill yourself in a wreck, and leave him with no one for real." Mer raised her eyebrows. Derek nodded

**&&&&&^^^^^^^%%%%%%**

"Morning sleepy," Meredith whispered, she ran a hand over his forehead.

"Mmmmmmmm…" Mer smiled, he wanted to know where Derek was.

"He'll be here soon. You know, he watched his pager for three hours last night waiting for you. Glad we didn't have another episode."

"You are married to gem. He gave him fabric from his scrub last night…" Mer grinned.

"He is a gem. And he talked so much about you, I think he forgot I was there." she giggled.

"I'll tell you a secret.." she whispered in Greg's ear. He moved in close to hear her.

"YOU, were his first surgery back, AS Dr. Shepard Chief of Neuro." She whispered, Greg smiled with his eyes.

"Meredith please stop gossiping about me." Derek stood in the doorway grinning. Mer shook her head, and laid a hand on greg's arm.

"OK, show me with fingers: pain on a scale of 1-10." Derek asked. He held up 5 fingers.

"OK, so this is a good dosage. We'll just keep with this and I'll talk to Dr Sloane about the stiches. Might be a week or three but they will come out. Good news is you'll sleep a lot."

"His levels are OK, I'll come back and chevk after surgery.." Mer noted his temperature and blood pressure on a chart.

"He likes his IPAD, he told me he thinks it's a good way to talk to you guys," Derek smiled, and felt a lump in his throat.

"We'll chat tonight after I get a reading on your levels. I've gotta go check the scans and I'll be back tonight. Dr Sloane says we need a G tube in.." Meredith shot him a look of panic.

"Here," Derek sat on the bed gently.

"It goes through a few layers of skin and directly into your belly. Its done through surgery, OK."

"Honey, you have to eat and its not enough with just IV fluids. OK, Dr. Shepard will be there when they do it alright." Derek leaned down and stroked his forehead softly.

"Listen to me, I'll be there the whole time OK. We just have to feed you in a way that you can't open your mouth with. Trust me.." Greg grabbed his hand and did his favorite squeeze with his doctor.

"Here, play with my scrub fabric I gave Mom, I'll be here before you know it." Derek continued to rub his head gently.

"I won't let anything happen to you." He whispered into Greg's ear. Derek grabbed his pen light and shined it in one eye then the next.

"I'll be back." He turned and said to Donna walking out of the room slowly.


	2. Chapter 2

"Is he sleeping?" Derek whispered, softly walking into the dark hospital room.

"He wants you.." his mom whispered back, Derek nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Hi buddy, come on give me that great eye contact… There we go." Derek did his penlight test again and stroked his patient's swollen face.

"His scans are clean. All we need to do is heal…" Derek stroked Greg's arm again. He saw the teen lean his head into him. Derek had a lump again he couldn't swallow.

"He wrote on his IPAD for you." Donna said. Derek saw the light coming from its screen.

"DR SHEPARD, WHEN WILL THE PAIN STOP? YOU AND DR GREY MAKE AN AWESOME COUUPLE " Derek blinked away tears again. He felt he always did it around this young boy.

"Soon, OK, very soon. Its always hard after surgery, and yes if Mer had been on my team today we would be an even better couple, thank you though." Greg grabbed his hand and put his thumb back where it was.

"Yup, yes, that is all mine. No one else's." Greg tried to sit up, which snapped Derek back into Dr. Shepard.

Easy, easy, I'll do it OK.. I can do it, you just need to stay down. Sitting up after this can make some people dizzy… There, shhhh, hush… There we go."

"How are we tonight?" Mer whispered coming in, and gently putting another hand on Greg's shoulder.

"He's up, and chatty." Derek pointed to the IPAD.

"Mommy needs a break, go get coffee OK. I got you a pass.." Meredith handed it to her.

"OK, thanks so much. He's in more than capable hands." Meredith took a place on the other side of the bed, and the two watched Greg, who was snuggling into Derek sleeve.

"Here, follow my finger… There we go, good job. OK now the other way, that's it, great job." Derek went through his usual tests with Greg.

"Push against my hands, there, good…" Derek sat on the edge of the bed, softy stroking his hair.

"YOU'RE THE BEST DR SHEPARD" Mer grinned, and felt her eyes again fill with tears.

"Hey you, hey buddy," Meredith rubbed his head softly.

"We're right here pumpkin, OK nothing's gonna happen to you. OK, its all OK…" Derek whispered into his ear. He stopped thinking about the tumor, and just enjoyed spending time with him.

"He snuggles with your sleeve," mer whispered.

"I think his sensory is making that happen. The trauma and all, his body's been under stress so the brain compensates." Greg's head pillowed by Derek's coat.

"Where's Sloane?"

"The OR, I needed him to help me check the dressing, but it can wait. All you and I need to worry about is the clean scans I have." Derek grinned a huge smile at Greg and raised his eyebrows in Mer's direction.

"Their clean! He's all clear, it worked…" she squealed, Derek nodded, and continued rubbing Greg's arm.

"OK, now you need to get to sleep, so here we go with the magic juice." Derek said, taking the morphine syringe out of his pocket. He smiled at Greg's 'you can't be serious look'.

"I'll make it interesting, promise." Derek opened the bottom and placed the needle in the IV, gently pushing the medicine in.

"I'll be there in sec, I don't want to push this in fast and have it hurt, OK.." Mer squeezed his had hard. They had a long way to go.

"We're here, OK, Dr. Shepard and I aren't gonna let you fight this alone.." Meredith felt her voice crack, and tried to gt control.

"Done, OK buddy, its alright. OK, you going to be OK, I promise you." Derek didn't even notice he was laying on the pillow next to his patient.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Dr. Sloane and I've got you all the way." Derek gently rubbed his hair, while Mer held his hand. Greg's eyes were locked on his neuro surgeon, as Derek's loving words hit him.

"MY TUMMY HURTS." Derek held him tighter.

"OK, it's the morphine, that's where the pain in your tummy's coming from OK. Dr. Grey'll be right back with some anti nausea. That's my boy, everything's alright."

"I wont ruin the moment." Sloane said softly. Derek looked up.

"don't start looking at his tongue, he's almost asleep." Der whispered.

"And hes sick from the morphine.." Mer said as she ran out the open door.

"Bonding are we?" Derek looked away.

"Give me a second…" Mark answered, he inspected the facial swelling and the stitches.

"He needs a NG tube Derek. He needs to eat at some point."

"You wanna put a tube in his nose after you expanded the crap out of it with a retractor for 5 hours?"

"No, I think we might need a feeding tube, but how soon can he go back into an OR?" Derek raised an eyebrow.

"His brain needs to calm down, so maybe next week." Greg's hand moved and took Dereks sleeve.

"Hey buddy," Derek murmured, leaning down into a free ear.

"Feeding tube, next week." Mark looked and saw his friend distracted again. Derek began rubbing Greg's arm again.

"OK, back," Mer said running in. she put the drip into the IV.

"I could stay here all night.." Der whispered, not knowing she was there.

"You're attached."

"This is a major surgery."

"You don't have to pretend in front of me or Sloane." Der nodded. Greg cracked his eye open and squeezed his surgeons hand.

"We're here, we've gota ya… That's it…" Derek whispered, lulling him back to sleep. He felt the tears start again, and he let them stream down his face.

"Meredith.." Mer turned and saw Donna in the doorway.

"Oh God you look like my husband.." Mer grinned.

"Well, we can't well break this up can we?"

"Guess what? He will never leave him. When he loves someone it's the purest. Most sincere love that you'll ever see."

Derek couldn't sleep; he laid and listened to the ventilator. He just hoped he wasn't uncomfortable. He pushed himself off the bed, even though he was warm and sleepy, and went to the end of the bed. Gently pushing up the covers, he inspected the catheter, checking the site for irritation, and external swelling. Thank God a child's brain had the ability to heal fast for all their sakes. He decided to do his own stitches check gently he peered where the bandage was, and under it several stitches. He glanced at the IV and made sure the low was working well.

"Der" he saw his wife standing with Donna.

"We had a little tummy ache from the morphine which is normal, and he enjoys cuddle time with my scrub sleeve." Derek whispered, sitting for the first time in hours.

"You have no idea how much he loves you.." his mom whispered. Der stood up, and smiled, tears in his eyes.

"I can feel it, Donna. Him, and me, we don't need words." Derek whispered gently.

"he's out for the night, I'll see you in the morning."

"Thank you, thank you both." Derek enveloped her tightly. He lost the war waged against his tears.


End file.
